Cindy Crawford extortionist found guilty

Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber in Westwood, California on November 30, 2009.

A German man has been sentenced to two years in prison after he was found guilty of attempting to blackmail supermodel Cindy Crawford.

Edis Kayalar was charged with attempting to extort $100,000 from Crawford and her husband Randy Gerber after threatening to sell a controversial photo of the couple’s young daughter to the media. The image showed the girl, who was seven years old at the time, tied to a chair and wearing revealing clothing during a game of ‘cops and robbers.’

Gerber is believed to have paid Kayalar, an acquaintance of the family’s former nanny, $1,000 to keep the photo under wraps but turned to FBI officials when the 26 year old made further demands for cash.

Kayalar left the U.S. in September 2009 but surrendered himself to police in Germany in November after U.S. authorities appealed for international help in tracking him down.

He was convicted of attempted blackmail at a court in the town of Kirchheim unter Teck, in southern Germany, on Tuesday and handed a two-year prison sentence, according to German website Thelocal.de.

Judge Joachim Spieth told the court, “The attempt at blackmail was well-advanced until it failed.”